N.h. Revokes Bingo License

The 1-year Suspension Is The Maximum Sanction Allowed By The Commission.

August 23, 2002|By Alan Schmadtke, Sentinel Staff Writer

The New Hampshire Sweepstakes Commission on Thursday revoked for one year the license held under the federal tax identification number of the Amateur Athletic Union. A one-year suspension is the strongest sanction the three-person panel can issue.

"This is the most serious thing that could have happened," Sweepstakes Commission Executive Director Rick Wisler said.

The move was expected. In fact, Bobby Dodd, president and CEO of the Orlando-based AAU, said he did not plan to apply to get the group's license back after it was suspended indefinitely in April. In a letter to the commission earlier this year, Dodd said the AAU was not involved in bingo or affiliated with games run by Michael Sweeney, former president of the New England AAU.

However, last week AAU financial director Amy Racicot, group attorney Byron Southern and an AAU independent auditor asked New Hampshire sweepstakes officials what it took to get its bingo license reinstated. Dodd said it was nothing more than a fact-finding call and the group did not plan to ask for reinstatement.

New England AAU and Sweeney had been running the AAU-US/Hudson bingo/Lucky 7 operation under the national AAU's tax ID with its parent group's knowledge.

It was under that license that $12,307,941 was earned in bingo revenues from 1996-2001. The national AAU has not filed its tax return for 2001, but it did not report to the Internal Revenue Service any of the $9,904,916 in revenues earned the previous four years, tax records show.

In addition, $7,072,258 of the $12.3 million went unreported to the charitable trust unit of the New Hampshire Attorney General's office.

The earlier suspension came in the wake of federal indictments against Sweeney. On Tuesday, Sweeney plead guilty to one count of bank fraud in a case that involved two bank accounts related to New England AAU's two bingo operations.

New England AAU is one of 56 regional affiliates of the AAU, a youth sports group of 500,000 athletes, coaches and volunteers. Its headquarters are at Walt Disney World.

Meeting in Concord, N.H., commissioners took about five minutes to discuss and vote unanimously to revoke the AAU-US/Hudson license.

Recently appointed New England AAU President Ed Skovran submitted a packet of documents to the commission to regain the license. Among the documents was a request for a new tax ID for the AAU-US/Hudson bingo.

Not included, however, was information the commission said it needed to lift its earlier suspension, including a letter of authorization from the national AAU.

Wisler said Skovran attended the meeting but was late for both the discussion and the vote. Skovran, who lives in Kingston, R.I., could not be reached for comment.

Thursday's sanction is rare but not ground-breaking, Wisler said. The commission delivered a one-year suspension to an Elks Club after it had been found guilty of permitted illegal gaming at a bingo hall.

But for the New England AAU, the revocation might not be the worst news. Wisler said that after reviewing letters from Dodd and conversations with national AAU officials, he now questions whether New England AAU is authorized to hold a bingo license.

Dodd told the Orlando Sentinel the AAU's executive committee approved bingo as a fund-raiser in the mid-1990s. He declined to make the minutes of that approval available to the paper.

Some current and former members of the executive committee don't remember voting on the issue. One, Ron Crawford, the AAU's national treasurer, said he isn't sure any affiliate needs the national AAU's approval for any fund-raising endeavor so long as it abides by all city, county and state laws.

In February, the AAU executive committee decided affiliates who want to run bingo must gain approval from Dodd or the executive committee.